Chapter 72: The Reception

After Ang finished taking her pictures, posed pictures of some or all of us, it was time to go back to the hotel. People were starting to get interested, and Jon was getting twitchy. “Jeeves,” he said softly.

“On it, boss,” I said, and hit a button on the Berry. “We’re ready,” I said, and hung up winking at Jon. Within minutes, the Bentley pulled up. Before the driver could get out of his door, I opened the back door and ushered the newlyweds inside. “There’s champagne and sparkling cider in the fridge,” I said, and closed the door. They were whisked away, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Everything went off perfectly. Now, it was time for the reception.

The limo driver had a route to take that would let Jon and Sam have some time alone, and would give us time to get everyone out of here and over to the hotel. When we got the JP squared away (he had some previous engagement and couldn’t come with us) we squished into the other limo and took off.

The others hadn’t seen what I had done at the hotel, so everyone stopped dead when we got in there. “What?” I asked. “Too much?” Tall, latticed screens had been brought out to carve out the space we were going to use in the room. The lights were dimmed, and white batting and twinkle lights were strung on the screens. The long table was set elegantly with fine bone china, Waterford crystal and heavy silverware. A mantle of white daisies divided the long table, and yellow rosebuds were placed randomly along the path. At Sam’s place at the table was a smaller version of her bouquet to throw to the girls. I’ve been to many weddings, and at every single one, the bride had wanted to keep her own bouquet.

I went into the kitchen to inspect the cakes, and saw the razorback-bride one, which made me laugh. It came out better than I thought it would, and the white-fondant-covered wedding cake sat waiting expectantly. Although I was tempted to put a topper on it (Jon’s doll and a blind justice doll for Sam) I decided against it. It was just too beautiful a cake to muss up.

Soft music was playing in the background, and wine and cider were chilling. The chef was putting the finishing touches on the hors d'oeuvres and everything looked perfect.

The final touch was the wedding gift from us to Jon and Sam. The whole lot of us combined forces to hire the best landscape designer in the country. He had done up several different drawings (plans, I guess you’d call them) of ideas for the back forty of Jon and Sam’s new house. It was hard coming up with something for them, but I think we done good.

Around the room on easels were the five different plans Marcelli had drawn up. They were all different, all unique, and if it were me, I’d have a hard time deciding which one to choose. Of course, they could work with him to come up with something that suited their personalities, but I think this was a good sampling of what he could do.

David was watching me flit back and forth, and smiled at me. “Love you,” he called out.

“Back atcha,” I said distractedly. Where was the damned driver?

Just then, my Berry beeped. Whew. “They’re on the way in,” I said. Lucy just looked at me. “You’re really enjoying this take-control, organizer stuff, aren’t you?”

I nodded. No sense in fighting it. “Yep, this is where I excel. I’m glad this is the last day of servitude, though.” I made a face.

We all grabbed glasses of champagne (one teeny sip at the toasts isn’t going to hurt the LJs) and Richie and Cori had extra glasses for Jon and Sam.

When the double doors opened, David announced, “And here, for the first time anywhere, Mr. and Mrs. John Francis Bongiovi!” We all laughed and clapped, and they took their glasses and came into the room. We all gave them hugs and kisses, then Richie cleared his throat.

"I'd like to say a few words, if I could." He turned to Sam and Jon, and consulted his watch. "Happy forty-three-minute anniversary!" he said, making everyone laugh. "You two have had a wonderful start, but it's not as great a day for the bride as she thinks. She's not marrying the best man." Richie laughed at his own humor then continued, looking at Jon. "Jon, you've been my friend, partner, and brother for most of my life, and I feel I know you as well as I know myself. I have never known you to be this happy, this optimistic, this content in all the years I've known you. I am so glad you found someone to put the sparkle back in those damned eyes." He turned to Sam. "And Sam, all this is because of you, darlin'. You ground him. Thank you for making him happy; you make him happier than I think he deserves." He raised his glass. "There is no greater happiness for a man than approaching a door at the end of a day, knowing someone on the other side of that door is waiting anxiously, expectantly and happily for the sound of his footsteps. Here's to a lifetime of footsteps," he said.

“Hear! Hear!” we all shouted again, and sipped our glasses.

As Richie finished his toast Cori raised her glass, "I'd like to say a few words too." She turned to Sam and Jon and smiled at the both of them. "Sam, we have been friends forever and I have never seen you as happy as I have since you found Jon." She turned to Jon, "I have to thank you for putting the smile back on my girl's face and the light back in her eyes." She raised her glass, "to Sam and Jon, may you love well and laugh often, may your smiles be many and your frowns be few and," she grinned wickedly at the happy couple, "may all your ups and downs be under the sheets!"

“Hear! Hear!” we all shouted again, and sipped our glasses.

Jon nodded to the DJ, who started Sam and Jon’s first dance. They danced their first dance as man as wife to “The Last Night”, and Jon had recorded an acoustic version, just for them. It was beautiful and tear-jerking, and oh! we couldn’t tear our eyes away from them. They ended with a sweet kiss that had us all turning discreetly away, then Sam caught sight of one of the easels.

“What is that?” she asked, stepping from Jon’s arms to have a closer look. “Baby, come here and look at this,” she said. “It looks like our house.” Jon went over and wrapped his arms around Sam from behind, and looked at the drawing for a long time, making me nervous. They turned as one and looked at the rest of us.

Stephanie nudged me forward. “C’mon, this was your find, you tell them.”

I cleared my throat. “It is your house,” I confirmed. “When we heard you were getting married, the first think we girls thought of was ‘what the hell do you get for a couple who has or could buy everything?’. We decided on this,” I said motioning to the easels. “We have hired a landscape designer to do your back garden.” Sam’s eyes widened, and Jon chuckled at her expression.

I nodded. “Yep, we thought that this way, you’d have a permanent reminder of us, of how much we love you, and you wouldn’t have to worry about doing it yourselves. Marcelli, the designer,” Jon’s eyebrows went up in recognition, “has done up a bunch of different ideas, but will work with you personally to make sure every detail is what you want. If there isn’t something here you like, he’ll do whatever you want. Sky’s the limit. Congratulations,” I said, toasting them again with my glass. “We love you.”

Sam came over and gave me a big hug. “It’s wonderful,” she said. “Thank you.” She went to look at the other designs, dragging Cori with her.

Jon came over and kissed my cheek. “You done good, Hath,” he said. “Everything went perfectly today. I appreciate you being a good sport this week, and really, I meant what I said the other day – I’ve gotten to depend on you getting stuff done for me. Thanks.” He chuckled. “My assistant thanks you too.” He put his hand on my forehead, like an old-fashioned healer, and raised his voice. “You are hereby officially released from duties now; though you can still call me boss if you want.”

Queen started playing over the sound system, and after we had a good laugh, we all danced. Ang was laughing at Tico and Hugh, arguing over who got to dance with her first. We roped one of the concierges into taking pictures for us.

A short time later, we settled in for wonderful appetizers, demolishing nearly everything. I nodded to the chef, and he had his pastry chefs wheel out the first cake. Sam, Nathan, and Cori nearly bust a gut laughing at the Razorback-bride. When the chef presented it to Sam, she stood; mischief sparkling in her eyes.

"Ya know,” she started, “I don't know 'bout how all ya'll Yankees do things, but back home on her wedding day, the bride gets anything she wants."

We all looked at each other. Nathan and Cori were smiling, so something was up, but it was her wedding day. Shrugging, I said, “Of course, Sam, whatever you want.”

Jon had seen where this was going, and shot me a look, then turned to Sam. "No, Sam, baby, please no, I'm begging you."

She would not be deterred. "I wanna hear all of ya'll call the Hogs!"

We burst out laughing, and The Harem was more than willing. I stood and motioned to the folks in the corner. “C’mon,” I called to the wait staff and other hotel personnel. “You too.” They came over, unsure of what to do.

Sam started us off. “It’s easy,” she said. She gave a long, low, loud, “WHOOOOO PIG SOOOOIE!!” and laughed.

We girls all stood around Sam, and did the arm motions that went along with it. “WHOOOOO PIG SOOOOIE!!” we shouted at the top of our lungs. I’m pretty sure they heard us in the lobby, but we didn’t care.

We looked expectantly at the guys, and Jon stood. “Only because I love you more than my own life, baby,” he said and motioned to the rest of the men to stand. All our voices joined together to scream “WHOOOOO PIG SOOOOIE .... RAZORBACKS!!”

Then Jon sliced the head off the “pig cake” as he called it, with one sure stroke.

When the “real” cake came out, Jon breathed a sigh of relief, which I heard. I stepped over to him. “Jon, I promised no penis cake, didn’t I?” I whispered, and smiled when he nearly choked on his drink.

“Yeah, but I didn’t really believe you,” he said.

“Oh, c’mon, you knew I wouldn’t screw this up.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I know,” he said, and winked.

He and Sam nestled together, cut into the wedding cake, and fed each other the first bites. Every few minutes, someone would clink his glass and Sam and Jon would share a kiss. More often than not, it was David.

Jon shot him a look. “I’ll remember this when you two get hitched,” he said.

After a while, Jon and Sam were eager to get on with their wedding night. They said goodnight to us and started to leave. “Wait,” I called, taking a room key from my bag. “Your stuff has all been moved to the honeymoon suite,” I said, smiling, and handing Sam the key.

“You think of everything, don’t you, Jeeves.”

“Uh, name’s ‘Hath’ there, chief,” I reminded him gently, but nodded, and they left the room. They’ll find the strawberries, champagne, and flowers on their own.

We stayed for a while longer, knowing that we were all heading out for where we needed to be over the next couple of days. The guys had shows in Philly, and the rest of us needed to get back to our lives. That didn’t mean we wanted to go, but responsibilities can be a bitch.


** Note: Stephanie wrote Cori’s toast. Thanks, G/F!